There is not a great deal of difference between the volume of players "signed" for West Mids as there is "signed" for Solent.... and I"d be surprised if there was any significant difference between the number who start the first tourney for each team.....
There is a HUGE difference..!! If you have 100 people signed up for your team, and manage to drum up half of those to play each week... Then the teams who have 30 signed up who also manage to drum up half are at a massive disadvantage. Flooding a team game with massive numbers is always going to put numbers of people in the points scoring positions.. May I say, Like last season... And now, you have been made bigger with the addition of the Birmingham team, who my have had a low turnout last season, might actually get more players now that they are in a larger team with more chance of winning.
Its all about numbers, more in the squad gives you more chance of high turnout, gives you more chance of winning the highest points each week. I am honestly surprised that the joining of 2 teams together was allowed.. Different story if it was 2 of the very small teams to make one team similar in size to the other teams.